A good call, Gratefultiger- she's fantastic; one of the handful of greatest performances- but look what happened to her (the Lulu character that is, not Louise). And look at the outcome of that other legendary silent female performance, Falconetti in The Passion of Joan of Arc.

Dreyer's earlier Master of the House is an enjoyable and amusing feminist drama, (1925). He wasn't all Scandinavian angst, as some think. And his last film Gertrud (1964)- which i failed to properly appreciate first time round- returns to female emancipation; certainly a strong, independent woman.

Of course, Mizoguchi was the world's greatest director of women, with his main theme the suffering of women in unjust society (past and present), but many of his heroines were self-sacrificing, abused and/or paragons of virtue. Occasionally, they break out, are permitted a victory.